[James]

Thanks for this info Animal, there was a long article in today's Guardian about the show, with quotes from the producers.

Though haven't yet mentioned to the newspaper about the early start date.

Thrills and skills

Big Brother calls in post-16 quango, reports Peter Kingston

Tuesday September 16, 2003
The Guardian

A junior version of Big Brother, which featured sex between two of the 18-year-old housemates during recording, is due to go out in a Channel 4 education slot with the backing of the Learning and Skills Council.

Britain's biggest quango gave advice to Teen Big Brother as part of its work with Channel 4 to enhance the educational content of its programmes. Officials were hiding any glee at what will undoubtedly boost ratings for a show that was commissioned with the uphill brief of informing teenagers about educational and training opportunities, and improving their key skills.

The programme, which is designed to inform teenagers about educational and training opportunities, caused a minor tabloid lather when it leaked out that a couple of contestants had actually done what the newspapers had been hoping would happen on the original "reality television" show.

"Channel 4's ratings are not top of our concern," said an LSC spokesman. "If people are watching and the educational messages are getting across, that's our job done. To the best of our knowledge we don't have a seduction department in the LSC."

When it is screened early in the new year, the show will not duck the fact that intercourse occurred during the week that contestants were in the Big Brother house, a Channel 4 spokeswoman said. "It's relevant to how a group of 18-year-olds live and to what's important to them," she said.

The show has been made by Endemol, which produced the original Big Brother, the fourth series of which was screened this summer. Eight 18-year-olds from diverse backgrounds - four male, four female - were selected after national auditions.

"All of them are at crossroads in their lives, either thinking of higher education or in jobs where they don't want to be," said the Channel 4 spokeswoman.

They spent a week in the Big Brother house. Unlike the original, in which the viewers vote each week for one housemate to be expelled, Teen Big Brother allowed the participants to vote for two to leave in the middle of the week.

At the end, the remaining six decided who should be the winner. He or she won "the vocational trip of a lifetime", the spokeswoman explained. For instance, if the winner was interested in becoming a chef, they would be taken abroad to visit some first-rate catering training institutions, she said.

During the week, the housemates were set tasks by Big Brother that were designed to improve their employability and key skills. The tasks would also demand a strong element of teamworking.

During production it was realised that the cameras had captured something that was not part of these tasks. "There was a sexual incident between two of the people in the house," the spokeswoman said.

This will not be screened, she stressed. But references to it by the other housemates will not be cut out.

The show unashamedly seeks to exploit the enormous popularity of the original Big Brother among its target audience, 16- to 20-year-olds.

Though no screening dates have been finally decided, it is expected that the show will go out in half-hour instalments as part of Channel 4's educational output, 4Learning, possibly in January.

An accompanying website will offer fuller details of educational and training opportunities for young people over 16.

The LSC spokesman said: "The LSC has been working with Channel 4 to enhance the educational content within its existing and future programmes, including advice on a specific programme based on the Big Brother format, but this has not involved any financial contribution from the LSC to support the show's development."

From http://media.guardian.co.uk/bigbroth...042523,00.html